Alan Stewart’s UK and Ireland family history news

Alien Arrivals and Entry Books

Alien arrival records and entry books have been made available online.

Ancestry.co.uk has made images of alien arrival records (not little green men, but non-British arrivals!) 1810-11 and 1826-69 available online as a searchable database. In addition, images of Alien Entry Books 1794-1921 can be browsed online.

According to Ancestry, the alien arrival records come from the following National Archives collection series:

FO 83/21-22: Lists of aliens arriving at English ports, August 1810-May 1811; 2 volumes of original lists created under an act passed in 1793 “for establishing regulations respecting Aliens arriving at this Kingdom, or resident therein, in certain cases”;

HO 3: Returns of alien passengers, July 1836-December 1869 (with a gap from January 1861 to December 1866); returns made of alien passengers on ships arriving at British ports as required by the Aliens Act, beginning in 1836; formerly known as Lists of Immigrants; also includes some papers on the drafting of the Act, its administration, and proposals for its revision;

Ancestry says that the exact information recorded in each collection varies, but generally the following type of information is listed:

Name of alien;

Port of arrival;

Date of arrival;

Ship;

Country of origin, nativity, and/or nationality;

Age;

Profession;

Certificate number.

The Alien Entry Books collection consists of correspondence and other documents of the Home Office and the Aliens Office from 1794 to 1921. The majority of the collection consists of out-letters relating to aliens and naturalisations. These are arranged chronologically. Includes some additional miscellaneous documents, such as some registers of applications for denization.